dans les morceaux
by dreams.of.destiny
Summary: Psychological. He kidnapped her at age ten, she fell in love with him. HINATA's the good girl.ITACHI's the bad boy. SASUKE's the antihero. Sasuka/Hinata, Itachi/Hinata, Itachi/Sasuke
1. the blank canvas

_dans les morceaux_

(in the pieces) we find **the blank canvas**

a fanfiction written by dreamsofdestiny and moonmagicks in a collaborative work in which the characters used belong to masashi kishimoto, shonen jump, and respective copyright owners. this is a work of fandom and hence has no materialistic benefit towards it. moreso, there will be wild and unbelievable pairings and scenarios in which the collaborated authors wish to say will include sexual innuendo, incestuous themes, physical and mental torture, and of course crude/vulgar humor. please beware and note the rating is there for a reason.

**6**

Her eyes are complacent. So white and bland and blank. Like a clean canvas, simply waiting to be painted upon. This is what he thought the first time he met her. It was at the classic large clan celebration. Lights and dancers and sake and fireworks, his little brother was celebrating his fifth birthday. His father was convinced into having an actual celebration while his mother managed to persuade the Hyuuga clan to come over. It was strange, because never before had he had any contact with the clan other than the usual ANBU missions and reportings. Their faces were always covered by the mask and because of it, it never occurred to him they might be so white. And of course, the little girl's eyes were the whitest.

He was only ten, but he already he knew what violation meant.

It would have been rushed and not at all intelligent to say he was in love with the girl, but he was most certainly...enthralled by her eyes. Everything else was ordinary at best, but her eyes...they were like pearls, able to be lost whilst gazing in the milky surface from outside, but on the inside, able to see everything and anything. Itachi sneered; the girl was the runt of the pack, wouldn't make it to chuunin, much less jounin, and would be a failure. It was obvious.

But those eyes...they were something different altogether. And while he didn't want or even need a lot, the small amount he did want, he got. And what Uchiha Itachi wanted at age ten was Hyuuga Hinata.

She would be his blank canvas, perfect to shape into whatever he desired. And he, he would be the painter, the creator of an art that would surpass the nowaday sculptures and fireworks. Something that would be...beautiful.

**5**

She's ten, he's fifteen. A criminal, feared by all, accepted by only the creme de la creme in the criminal ranks. He's killed off everyone in his pathetic clan: too weak, too scared of true power, unable to understand that in order to get something great, something must be sacrificed. In this case, it's blood. A large quantity of blood, but what's a couple bodies, more or less? All that's left if Sasuke, and he's simply a disappointment. There's no point in the boy staying alive, however, Uchiha Itachi knows when to stop following a trail, and when to give up on something. His little brother is no longer a family member. Not anymore.

Apparently, after a couple years, some people in Konoha still are not informed about him and his facial expressions. The guards to the Hyuuga manor were child's play to bypass; 360 degree vision or not. And when he landed with a soft 'thump' in her room, she looked at him with only the most natural surprise. There was no fear, and there was still the ever-so-white eyes.

"Do you know who I am?" He was to-the-point; there wasn't much time to waste in the first place.

"Um...no..." And she hung her head, ashamed, and honestly, he thought it was disgusting. If she didn't have those eyes, if she wasn't such a clean slate, he wouldn't have continued, but she was and he was an artist, and so he plodded forward.

"I am Itachi." And he waited for the horror of his name to sink in. However it never came. She simply lifted, and then tilted her head to the side, looking at him as if he should give some more solid descriptions. He didn't bother; disregarding it as yet another one of the village stupidities. When he was ten, he was never so uninformed, why, he had memorized all the criminals and could flawlessly list them in alphabetical order if necessary.

But right now, all he needed to do was get her out of here. Easy.

"You are...Hyuuga Hinata, no?" He extended a hand to touch her navy-blue locks, chopped raggedly short. That wouldn't do; he would make certain that her hair wouldn't be cut when she was his. She nodded once, a barely discernable motion. The one thing redeeming her was the fact she did not flinch at all when he took a portion of her hair. She didn't flinch when the hair brushed against her cheeks. She didn't flinch when slowly, slowly, his hands moved away, releasing the strands of night sky one by one.

That was admirable.

With no beforehand warning the withdrawn hand reached out once more, this time with lightning speed. A small tap to her temple was all it took for the girl to crumple forward. He shouldered her in such a manner that she wouldn't bruise and yet wouldn't noticeably slow him down.

He left the grounds of the Hyuuga manor in such the manner he had came in. Itachi went undetected by all the guards and as he increased his speed due to the fact Konoha borders were nearing, he wondered if such a slate was really worth all the trouble. For an heiress, even, she should have had one constant guard in her room at least. He would make certain to do that when they arrived.

She probably wouldn't wake up until hours later. More than enough time for him to replan and recheck what he was going to do, how he was going to give the first coat, the first stroke on the canvas. A beautiful, untouched blank canvas, just waiting to be violated. In five hours, it would be discovered missing. In ten hours, the entire Fire Nation would have been searched. In a month, she would be replaced. In a year, she would be forgotten. After all, she was merely a blank slate.

Something to paint upon.

Something to defile.

Something to break in pieces again and again.

**4**

Hinata was a good girl. Hinata was always the people-pleaser: quiet, timid, and ever-so-desperate for some form of affection or acknowledgement of her existence. Naruto was the boy who had given her courage, he was her shining star, the driving force behind everything she did. She was still too shy to speak to him, even look him in the eye, but she was getting better. Just yesterday, she had spoke a full conversation with Neji-nii, and the week before she had tied with Hanabi in a sparring round. She was improving, all because of him.

"Naruto...kun..." she murmured in her sleep. Itachi stared impassively ahead. He knew full-well who the name was attached to and what the person did, but had not anticipated his blank canvas to have already been painted. By how much, he had no idea.

There was an incandescent light in her mind. Slowly, her eyelids flickered open and adjusted to the brightly-lit room. The first thing she saw was a pair of black eyes, completely void of any emotion. She blinked again, with the same painstakingly slowness as her first blink. She didn't bother looking around the room, for she was ensnared by the gaze of the ebon eyes.

Maybe relieved wasn't the right word for the moment, but he couldn't care less. All that mattered was that her eyes had not yet dulled or grown tainted, despite an outside influence. They were still pearl-white, just as they were five years and a couple hours ago. The same eyes that could see through you, but not the other way around. She blinked for a third time before speaking.

"Who are you?"

"Itachi."

"Itachi." She repeated, more blinking, as she was storing the name within her. Something in her head whispered something. But she was too busy being entranced with his stare to listen. Not that it would have mattered anyways, for unbeknownst to her, she was already trapped in his world.

"Wh-Where am I?" She asks hesitantly, uncertain of whether or not she should be afraid...or if this is simply some strange training exercise developed by her father. The high ceiling, the brick walls, they look to be some sort of foreign genjutsu. However, the plush bedsheets, not at all like the silk ones at home, those most certainly feel real. Real enough to make the ten-year-old want to lie down and sleep upon them.

"You are not in Konoha anymore." His blank expression shows no compassion at the slight widening of her eyes, before her mouth opens to form a question. Calmly, he lifts a finger against her lips, if only to silence the inevitable question. A question in which he himself honestly, could not give an answer out in words. It was frustrating for him as well, seeing as how she, this timid girl whom he could literally feel shaking up against his gentle-but-firmly-silencing fingers, was a fork in his plan. Something that was definitely not expected, much less planned for.

Everything would have been neatly worked out, if it were not for her. If he were a more emotional person, he would have sighed and brooded a while. But he was Itachi of the Mangekyou Sharingan and he didn't sigh. Instead, he stood up from the chair and proceeded to leave the room, giving the quivvering girl in the bed a cryptic reply of:

"Here is all that is left for you."

"Itachi..." she whispered his name, rolling it around her tongue for the sake of doing so. In place of the thousands of questions she had, he had given her a meaningless sentence. In place of her royal attire and Hyuuga seals, there were kimonos that looked straight out of a painting and funny red-and-white fans and clouds everywhere. It was a strange place, needless to say, and had it been anyone else, Hinata would have been in hysterics. But she was only ten and realized that here, she didn't need to train everyday. Here, there was no otou-sama to yell at her.

It wasn't home. It wasn't home.

But 'home' was a place she had no intention of going to.

**3**

Needless to say, Itachi was not a caring person by anyone's standards. He provided her with meals and attire and a roof. He gave crows as servants and she was given delicate praises in the form of butterfly-soft touches when she did something 'right.' The years flew by, and still Hinata resided in the little manor made of bricks with high ceilings and velvet covers.

Sometimes, she'd try to remember what 'home' was. It was only some sort of fleeting memory now. A white bird, so to speak. There were some faces: two angry ones and one sneering one. But there was also a happy one. Yellow hair, radiating waves of sunlight.

Here, she was alone. Itachi (that was all she knew of him--his name) came and went as he pleased. Sometimes she'd only see him once a month, other times he'd stay on the grounds for days without end. But he was always cold, preferring reading and perfecting his attacks as opposed to talking or enjoying life in itself. Hinata wished she could remember the name of the sun, for here, here where she was, there was only the moon.

It was beautiful, unquestionably so. However, where the sun burned you upon contact...the moon simply woudl never allow your hand to touch it.

The manor was peaceful, like a picture of tranquility and calm. As the seasons came and went, Hinata stayed within its walls.

A blank canvas, still.

**2**

Faster. Stronger. Smarter.

In short: better. This is what Sasuke had been training for ever since the day after the massacre. The best grades, the highest rankings, the best attacks, the best defense. His position soared until he was the best of the Rookie Nine, better than anyone in Konoha could help, and finally, better than Orochimaru. With each accomplishment, he could feel his hands tightening their grip around his traitor of a bro--

No.

They were not brothers anymore. They were mortal enemies, and the world wasn't large enough for the two of them.

With each new kill, each new genjutsu learned, each accomplishment made, and each ninja beaten, Sasuke could not find a shred of satisfaction. So what if he mastered Katon at an early age? Itachi had beat him to it. Best grades? Only the most dull achievement Itachi had. Beating Orochimaru? Itachi had accomplished that over a decade ago. Everything he did, every little step he took, it was always in his elder brother's shadow.

_He looks just like his brother, some nameless Uchiha woman said._

_Your eyes, they've got that same dojutsu...Kakashi had commented, just like him._

It was pathetic, they were pathetic, he knew it. But nonetheless, he couldn't help but hold onto the bitter memories of being compared to his, his enemy. Even now, if it wasn't Orochimaru staring at him and licking his lips (_just like how he did when he looked at Itachi, he saw when they had entered his mind-world_) it was his own mind repeating the same phrase. Over and over again.

Just like your brother.

Just like Itachi.

Just like that traitorous, murderous fuck who killed off all your family and left you alone in the world.

Just like him. Just like him.

**1**

"ChiChiChiChi!" Chidori crackled venemously under his hand as again, he charged towards the man he had sworn to kill.

Itachi didn't even attempt to evade. Sasuke sneered; a doppelganger then. 'Two can play at that game,' he thought, quickly making the Chidori-running him a doppelganger as well. It hit, unsurprisingly, again, Itachi keeled down, pretending to be in dead faint.

"You've gotten...much stronger..." he rasps, fake blood (_or maybe crows' blood...?_) pouring out of his fake chest. Sasuke concentrates on making Itachi think that that is where Sasuke thinks it's going to end. The fake body reaches out two fingers, as if to kill him. Instead, they point towards the throne in which Itachi was--is still sitting on. Sasuke's eyes narrow: there is where the real is. He almost forgets to have the doppelganger show the correct expressions.

"Just like last time..." his doppelganger begins.

"The end is a long ways off." Itachi says solemnly, as if he had all the time in the world.

Sasuke can almost taste the elder's blood upon his lips. He appears behind the throne, the movement too fast for anyone, crow or human to catch. In a swift movement, his katana is through the man's chest.

Blood is being coughed up and he's thinking of the worst phrases he could possibly utter to Itachi in his time of death. However, he finds it far more effective simply to allow the doppelganger to dispel, turning into snakes which turn into nothingness.

"But before I kill you, I have one last question." he ends on the same thing the doppelganger ended upon. Itachi does not respond. Sasuke sees the blood running down his lips, to his chin, and wonders if his former sibling is regretting what happened before. No doubt thinking what he could have done, trying to backtrack to see where he went wrong.

Sasuke smiles bitterly; like Itachi had feelings.

Instead of asking again, he simply jerks the handle of the blade heavenward, so that now there is a long gash running down Itachi; from chest to hip. Blood is gushing out, obviously, and Sasuke never felt so happy seeing the red liquid.

He takes a hand and swipes it over the trickling stream of ruby, bringing the stained piece of marble to his lips.

It tastes good.

Sasuke's eyes expand exponentially as he sees the blood-smeared face of his dead elder brother grace with a smile. A dark chuckle follows as everything turns black...and then red. Tsukuyomi; Sasuke registers this is his mind as the situation is turned over in astoundingly quick time. Crows are everywhere, they make up everything.

The throne was made of crows; his katana was made of crows; Itachi was merely yet another patch of clones. Pecking, squabbling, birds wth flapping wings and cawing beaks that were pecking and biting at him with no regard for their lives. He killed a couple with his bare hands, but that simply made his clothes more red.

Red. Red. Red.

This was Tsukuyomi; Sasuke had seen inside it twice before. The screams of okaa-san and otou-san were ringing through the air, his ears, his head. The agony was unbearable. Just like that fateful night, just like the hospital where Naruto was kept; it was all the same. Blood, blood, and more blood. Black, white, and red were the sole colours of this horrifying world. Telling yourself it was simply a genjutsu did not work.

He keeled, and dropped in a dead faint. Face ashen, breathing jolted at best. Itachi stood over his younger brother, contemplating what do next. His little sibling was proving to be quite the dissapointment; unaware that he had cast the genjustsu as soon as he had pointed his fingers toward the throne, or more importantly; what was behind the throne.

Undoubtedly; his younger brother had improved. However, not enough, not enough to match up to Itachi's standards.

A disappointment, in short.

Itachi stood impassively for a moment, lost in thought, before stalking off to recuperate for his mass usage of chakra. He needed to call Kisame back to the manor first.

There was no question in whether or not he noticed a girl with pearl-eyes coming downstairs, but to say he cared was a completely different story. He had no need to hide his younger brother's failures from anyone.

And so, he left without a word, leaving Hinata to discover a crumpled boy being pecked by crows in the throne room. It wasn't an everyday occurence, especially when said boy was gasping and wheezing and desperately clutching the air for something.

A life that wasn't there.

**0**

end of the first chapter.


	2. a healer's gift

_dans les morceaux_

(in the pieces) we find **a healer's gift**

a fanfiction written by dreamsofdestiny and moonmagicks in a collaborative work in which the characters used belong to masashi kishimoto, shonen jump, and respective copyright owners. this is a work of fandom and hence has no materialistic benefit towards it. moreso, there will be wild and unbelievable pairings and scenarios in which the collaborated authors wish to say will include sexual innuendo, incestuous themes, physical and mental torture, and of course crude/vulgar humor. please beware and note the rating is there for a reason.

**6**

"What do you mean you can't sense Sasuke's chakra anymore?" Suigetsu was furious, that playful bastard of a shark had very nearly shaved off his left arm and leg. While Suigetsu did escape the worst of the Samehada, he had quite the ripped skin on his left rib to show for it. Cursing again as he wiped off the Demon's Blade from more dirt than blood, Karin began to screech and rant.

"I mean it's gone you moron! Kabam! Poof! It just winked out as if it never existed in the first place!" Karin tugged on the smooth side of her hair worridly; what if Sasuke was dead?

"How is that fucking possible?"

"There's only two ways for him not to be sensed anymore, either he's hiding or he's dead!"

"Which of the two do you think he's doing, retard?" Suigetsu sneered.

"You're the retard, you sonofabitch!" Karin raged, punching the water-shifter straight through a tree in her fury.

Juugo sighed; it looked like he needed to play peacemaker once more...

"What if we go in the direction Sasuke went?" he reasoned, "After all, since that guy isn't guarding it anymore, it is our only lead..."

"See, Karin?" Suigetsu taunted, "Juugo always had a perfectly good plan to save your dear Sasuke, no need to get your hair all frizzled up!" And here, the sensitive sharp-teethed boy was rewarded with a glare that could boil water by a furious girl.

"Fuck off!" She grumbled, stalking on ahead. Juugo followed. Suigetsu grumbled off-handedly about stupid schoolgirl-crushes before reluctantly dragging his feet along the dirt road in the direction of the hideout.

**5**

As soon as the crows noticed Hinata's prescence within the room, they simply flapped away, not bothering to land upon her or give her any sort of explanation. So she was left alone in the throne room, save for the boy whose shaking and shivering was now reduced to harsh intakes of air.

It had been long, long, long ago when Hinata met another human being. Someone besides Itachi or his crows or his blue-skinned partner. So it was only natural that she simply had no idea what to do when she finally came in contact with someone else. Someone who was gasping and panting, hanging on for dear life. Someone whose hair was black, like Itachi's.

All she could do was stare at him.

Kneeling down to be closer to him, she found his breathing to have quieted down noticably. Hinata smiled; it was good to be in the company of someone.

She continued to stare at him aimlessly for a while, taking in his physical characteristics. He was dressed in a black coat of corts with a white and blue robe underneath. He looked like a foreigner, what with his clothing and his hairstyle. Finally, her curious gaze rested on the bandages wrapped around both his arms. Hinata could remember their use, and suddenly realized this meant he was an sickly person.

Suddenly, everything pieced together: the beforehand gasps and the current bandages; how he was keeled over the floor, almost in a dog-like huddle. Something inside her stirred. It wasn't out compassion or anything silly of the sort. Itachi had long before made it clear that emotions were troublesome and the only things that mattered to him were the facts. She didn't know when that unspoken rule first appeared. Whether it was in the first couple months when she came to estate, not sad in the sense of the word, but feeling lost nonetheless. Maybe it was when she tripped on a lovely kimono down the stairs and felt like dying of shame because of the way Itachi had looked at her. Or was it the time when she had confessed to him that she was a bit bored and he begrudged her a couple lessons?

Soemwhere inbetween all those little moments between them, Hinata had come to the conclusion that Itachi was better.

He didn't feel a need to belittle her for her mistakes. He did not find it necessary to glare at her when she messed up on her gentle fist positioning. He didn't even require her to practice at all. He was...better than everyone else she could remember. Maybe he was perfection, maybe he wasn't.

But it didn't really matter much because he was the one person in her life nowadays--

A rough, hacking cough cut her away from her thoughts.

The boy was now coughing desperately. It was as if there wasn't any air in his lungs. Hinata was completely at loss here, unable to think of what to do. The coughs were growing more harsh with each desperate choke of the lungs. His eyes were clenched shut, completely different from the peaceful slumber she was observing him in just minutes prior. Blood was being ejected into the air, and Hinata tried her best not to vomit at the coppery smell of it.

"Hinata." Itachi appeared behind her, it was still a wonder how he managed to appear so suddenly at a whim.

"Y-Yes?" She meekly replied. Itachi blinked; the girl had not stuttered in a long while.

"Leave him be." This was the first time in a long while Itachi had directly commanded her to do something. Hinata turned towards the pale, sickly boy, wondering if Itachi was going to leave him to die. She looked at Itachi again, and he was aware of that gaze. It was the same as the time he had taken her away and she had so many questions on the tip of her tongue.

Hinata responded much as she did the previous time, closing her mouth and turning away; going back to her room.

Itachi, for his part, looked at neither the girl nor the boy as he strode away, and out of the building, Kisame in tote.

**4**

It was night. The sole girl of the manor tossed and turned in her bed, her mind returning to the previous hour. She didn't want to admit it aloud (_there's no one to listen anyways..._), but it bothered her. If Itachi were here, he would probably look at her as her...as someone long ago had looked at her: weak. But keeping your lips tight meant your mind had all the more room to wander off.

_You're no better than a murderer._

_There's someone coughing themselves' to death less than fourty feet away, and here you sit, trying to ignore their pleas._

_Murderer. Murderer. Murderer._

Normally, Hinata's mind swarmed with unnecessary thoughts anyways, but never before had they accused her of murder. It was weak to care about someone she didn't know. It was weak to argue with yourself in the middle of the night. It was weak, weak, weak to be her. Hinata felt the bile rising in her throat at her own self-disgust. It was weak. She was pitiful.

A disappointment. A failure.

_It's even worse to be a servant, no a slave to Itachi. Hanging on to his every order._

"Shut up...!" Hinata whispered hoarsely, even though she knew it would do no good. A chant of 'murderer, murderer, murderer...' repeated in her mind. Clenching her teeth to avoid biting her tongue, she balled her fists, making certain that nothing would be broken in her temporary tantrum. Maybe a fit of fury would relieve her of these unnecessary thoughts.

A pound on the pillow.

_Traitor_.

A kick towards the bedside.

_Weakling_.

A desperate flinging onto the bed led to an ominous, final click.

_Murderer_.

Hinata, for the life of her, couldn't tell if the click came from the hallway, or if it came from the recesses of her betraying mind. The final shard of her humanity falling into the darkness. The final piece of insanity inserted into her mind, which would unquestionably spell out her doom. Trying her hardest not to think (_because it hurts so badly, too badly to do so. but it hurts even more to not..._), Hinata released her fingers, unclenched her teeth, and curled up in a sweating ball of fear and guilt and shame on her bed. Her body wanted to go to sleep ever so badly, but her mind was resisting to the point where her eyes were still wide open.

She stayed in that eerie, unblinking position for a while, noting somewhere that it was strangely silent, devoid of any coughs or other--

A bloodcurdling scream caused her to bolt up like lightning and dash to the boy.

**3**

Sasuke knew he had lost. It was always like this, even when he was five: he would charge at his older brother, holding absolutely nothing back. And Itachi would grin some sort of damned smirk and dodge away at the last second, the projectile, fist, or whatever else Sasuke was using missing the weasle by a couple feet.

The bastard didn't even try to make it look like Sasuke's efforts were worth anything...

Wait. He wasn't five years old. Itachi wasn't ten. He didn't live in the Uchiha Manor anymore. That was all the past. That was all a dream. Yes, a dream. A dream. If it was a dream, he needed to wake up. Now.

Sasuke growled in an annoyed fashion before cracking open his eyes.

It took a while before he was able to adjust his vision to fit the semi-darkness. There were three candles lighting the room he was in. He tried to remember what came before. _Oh right, I was fighting Itachi..._ Logically, he was still alive (he pinched himself just to make sure) and still in one part. Taking in his entire environment now, he noticed he was on a rather comfortable bed. And he was covered with sheets which were thick and warm. He noted that this didn't seem to be any sort of hospital so there was only one option...

His thoughts were interrupted by his sudden realization that he was not alone.

A warm lump to the left side of his bed stirred.

Sasuke's heart was ramming against the side of his ribs as if he were running a marathon. Slowly, regretfully, he lifted the bedsheet...

And relaxed exponentially. It was merely a black bird.

Said bird opened one eye, then fluttered off. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. This place he was in was suspicious; he needed to get out and train harder, not waste time sleeping in the same bed as birds. Muttering to himself, he provided to get off the bed and--

"Wha!" His calm and composed demeanor was completely shattered as his foot was retracted with lightning speed. Sasuke's eyes went egg-shaped as the squishy thing he stepped on proceeded to rise from the floor, and he found himself at eye-level with Hinata Hyuuga.

In the dim light, her eyes looked dull-gray. He noted the lack of pupils and made a mark of her being either a relative of Neji or Ino. He was aware of the girl doing the same to him, checking his eyes and commenting off-handedly to herself...

"Just like Ita--"

He never allowed her to finish her sentence as in a burst of rage, he pinned her neck to the wall, raising her feet a couple inches above the ground. His Sharingan was probably activated, but he didn't give a damn. The sudden close proximity to the candlelight made him see the true colour her eyes were: lavendar-white. His own eyes widened; what the hell was a relative of Neji doing here? But he shoved those thoughts aside for now, choosing to make the distance between them even smaller, his lips a mere inch away from her earlobe.

"Never, ever compare me to that person," he hissed, tightening the grip on her neck momentarily. "Understand?" A slight loosening of his hand to allow her to nod in a barely discernable manner. She wasn't shaking from his rough treatment, and all that revealed her weakness was the flinching of her eyes when he pulled back and let go of her completely, dropping her to the floor.

Wordlessly, she got up and attempted to leave the room.

"Wait." She stopped, and turned. Curiousity was written over her eyes, but nowhere else.

There were so many questions he wanted to ask, but he started with the most obvious.

"How did I get here?" She hesitated slightly, fiddling with the hem of her ornate attire (he off-handedly wondered who would wear a kimono this time of year)'s sleeve before replying quietly.

"I dragged you here."

"Where was I before?"

"In the throne room..." she sullenly replied, looking like a child that did something wrong. Sasuke felt shock barrel into him once again.

He. Was. Still. In. Itachi's manor.

He was still in Itachi's manor.

The horror of the situation was dawning on him. Hinata cocked her head sideways in confusion as horror overwhelmed the boy's pale features, quickly fading into burning hate...directed at her. She let out a small gasp as her eyes watched him draw his katana, the blade catching the glint of the candlelight. Hinata was terrified; for the second time in less than a minute, she was in a heart attack-inducing situation. Sasuke's eyes were cold as he quickly flash-stepped behind her, positioning his blade at the junction of her head and neck, ready to slice it off at any minute.

Hinata bit back a whimper; his prescence was so unsettling to her...

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you," Sasuke said in monotone. The girl whose life was currently in his hands bit down on her tongue. There were a couple good reasons, ranging from her saving his life to him stepping on her chest. But Hinata was if nothing but demure and simply trembled, awaiting certain death.

Sasuke, for all his previous actions, had never murdered a person who was simply shaking in unadultered fear. Never had he killed in cold blood. Oh, how his mind yearned for her to at least try to attack, to defend herself somehow. That way, he would have some reason for killing her. But all she did was stand still and shake like an autumn tree. His guilty conscience nagged him to at least ask why she was here.

Maybe she was a prisoner like him...?

"Are you here against your will?"

"...No..." She hesitatingly replied, starting to nervously finger the hem of her sleeve again.

She was annoying. He wanted so badly to kill her. She was weak too, not to mention. He'd probably be doing her a favour killing her off.

_She hasn't done anything to you yet_.

Who knew? She might have violated him, for all he knew!

_Liar. You of all people should know how important life is_.

In the end, his conscience won out. He had killed many people, in the name of avenging his clan, in the name of training, in the name of bettering himself. However, he had never killed an innocent bystander (_But isn't she with Itachi?_) yet. And he most certainly didn't want to make her his first "careless" kill. The irony would be too thick: on Itachi's ground, no less.

"Che..." he muttered, sheathing his sword.

Hinata exhaled hesitatingly.

**2**

Kisame had been with Itachi for almost a decade, and knew the boy-murderer better than his own parents. But still, the varying moods always seemed to throw him off-course. Especially since Itachi wasn't resting his eyes in his own house; choosing to don a henge and rendezvous in far-away Amegakure, in a small inn. It was perplexing, needless to say, and Kisame knew better than to tread on suicidal waters. However, watching his partner slowly recuperate (he himself had suffered a couple scratches due to Mangetsu's kid brother) while the hours ticked by in utter silence was too much, even for an Akatsuki member.

"Itachi-san." The name was spoken without a shadow of a question, moreso of a statement. But Itachi knows Kisame as well.

"Hn." And responds as he would with any vocal intonation at all. Kisame swallows, knowing the ground he's walking on is filled with landmines, but he's too bored out of his fucking mind to care.

"Why aren't we at your house?" Neither of them care at the implications the statement could have led to. They are gentlemen, if nothing else.

Itachi pauses for a moment, before giving an answer that is no answer at all.

"It is not necessary."

Being a professional killer, Kisame knows his partner well enough to know the effeminate boy-killer doesn't mean to grind people's nerves like that. He's simply emotionally (and mentally and relationshiply) challenged and cannot empathize with his partner. However, it does nothing to ease the staggering weight of the silence in the room and Kisame cannot refrain from grinding his teeth together in irritation. Itachi takes no heed of this. For while they may be cold-blooded murderers who can decapitate a person in the blink of an eye, they are also gentlemen through and through. And gentlemen know when to speak, and more importantly, when to not.

**1**

It was...awkward, to say the least. Hinata really didn't want this person in her room, but she was too shy to tell him that this was her room. If he wasn't the one asking all the questions, she probably could have asked a couple of her own at this point in time. But she was Hinata: shy, polite, and sweet, if absolutely nothing else.

"Why are you with Itachi?"

"Itachi...he brought me here a couple winters back." Hinata started fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve once again, remembering that talking to this boy was against Itachi's orders. Sasuke, on the other hand, noted that the girl in front of him referred to his elder brother as "Itachi," no "-san" or "-kun" or "-sama" attached. It was strange to him.

"Why did he bring you here?"

"I...don't know." Sasuke wasn't stupid. He knew there was a reason, whether the girl was lying or not wasn't much of his concern.

"How old are you?"

"I...don't know." Hinata realized that the last birthday party she had was when she was ten. That was so far away. So long ago. She certainly couldn't still be ten, could she? Sasuke, in an aggravating manner, ran a hand through his hair; was there anything she did know?

With the sunlight streaming through the uncurtained window, Sasuke took a moment to fully observe the girl before him. She was dressed in a lightly-flowered kimono, that seemed more fit for a summer festival than within the walls of the abandoned Uchiha hideout. Her odd indigo-black hair pooled to small of her back, and it was lightly layered.

Most importantly, her eyes were pearl-white.

"Are you a Hyuuga?"

For the first time since meeting him, a strange expression flashed against her face. Annoyance. She dropped her head, shielding her eyes from his probing stare, murmuring a reluctant affirmative in response.

It was odd, he knew. That out here in the ruins of the never-flourishing Uchiha hideout (which Itachi now had full rein over), hidden behind miles and miles of forest, that he could be talking to a Hyuuga girl who looked to be about his age. It was even odder the way she acted, in fact, she seemed more comfortable talking about his cold-hearted bastard of an older brother than herself.

She was...weird. Intriguing, yes; but strange nonetheless.

"Who...are you?" he murmured, unaware that his fists were clenching.

"Hinata..." she breathed, happy to finally be able to give an easy answer.

"Hinata." he repeated, "I've asked enough," he snorted in disgust, "I'm leaving."

"Um..." there was a quick gap of silence as she twiddled her fingers, uncertain as to whether or not she should tell him..."Um...!"

But he had already proceeded towards the throne room, which in turn, led to the main gate. As soon as he neared the door, out of nowhere, a flock of crows attacked him. Blockading the exit as well as pecking at his skin. He had been trained to endure pain ten times worse than this, but when one bird aimed too close to his eyes...

THUMP.

It fell down with a deadly thud.

Hinata gasped; that boy...he had just murdered a helpless crow! Her eyes heightened immediately into the activated Byakugan, and Sasuke knew what was going to happen next. Prepared to easily dodge aside (and out the door as well), his attempt at killing two birds with one stone failed. Due to the distraction caused by the damned crows, he didn't realize it was a clone he was guarding until too late.

By then, she had already slowed down his heart rate to a sleeping pace, and was holding back tears from the death of a bird.

_Mercy is a sign of weakness_.

Someone had said that to her long, long ago. She didn't remember who, but curled up in a little ball while regretting she saved a half-dying boy from the clenches of death certainly made Hinata feel very weak.

It must be fatigue, she thought before passing out next to Sasuke.

Two fatigued children, covered in a sea of black feathers, one of them clutching a dead crow, mere inches away from the door.

This was certainly not the sight Itachi expected to see upon arriving at the hideout.

**0**

end of the second chapter.


	3. a red world

_dans les morceaux_

(in the pieces) we find **a red world**

a fanfiction written by dreamsofdestiny and moonmagicks in a collaborative work in which the characters used belong to masashi kishimoto, shonen jump, and respective copyright owners. this is a work of fandom and hence has no materialistic benefit towards it. moreso, there will be wild and unbelievable pairings and scenarios in which the collaborated authors wish to say will include sexual innuendo, incestuous themes, physical and mental torture, and of course crude/vulgar humor. please beware and note the rating is there for a reason.

**6**

"What happened here?" Kisame said incredulously, surveying the damage.

Itachi stared at the sight that beheld his arrival. Hinata and Sasuke were sprawled out of the floor, obviously unconscious, and obviously in an attempt to escape. Itachi narrowed his eyes as he simply took it all in. Sasuke must have been attacked by his crows in his failure. He had no doubt that crows alone didn't stop Sasuke, and somewhere along the line, Hinata must have used her bloodline limit as well.

He raised an eyebrow at the thought; Hinata must have really advanced...or Sasuke was just unbelievably weak. Something in his mind awoke. It told him he should be naturally angry with Sasuke for tainting his blank canvas. However, there was a more rational voice telling him that it was him and Sasuke's job to revive the clan. And the only issue with the Hyuuga would-have-been heiress was the blue hair.

If Itachi were a lesser man, he would have shuddered at the thought of Uchihas with blue hair. However, all he did in reply to that horrifying imagery was gingerly steping over his younger brother's limp form, uttering a quick command to his partner.

"Put them in their rooms."

Kisame knew better than to question him when he was in these sort of moods. Biting his tongue (and proceeding to grind his teeth in the process), he hefted both young children atop of Samehada's bandages and took them to two different rooms, Sasuke in one of the countless abandoned, dusty guest rooms in the manor. Hinata placed in her usual room. Rolling his eyes at the pathetically easy duty he performed, Kisame wondered why Itachi had never brought any servants over to tend to Hinata.

Instead, there were creepy crows and...himself.

_Who needs a servant when you've got your very own missing Shark-nin from Kirigakure?_

Having a little chuckle with himself, Kisame walked towards his room in the hideout.

It hadn't been a very long day. If anything, the past week had been relatively peaceful, what with Itachi "recuperating" from his massive chakra expenditure and Leader-sama not assigning them any specific tasks. Actually, the week had been very peaceful. Kisame grinned a little upon shoving the door to his room open, not bothering to close the door or light any candles.

Instead, he flopped back on the unusually-sized bed (specially made for him) and closed his eyes, awaiting sleep to overwhelm him--

_A meeting is in order_.

Kisame groaned: if he weren't a member of the top criminal organization with a cutthroat boss who knew jokes like Itachi knew empathy, he would have sworn Leader-sama chose these meeting times exactly when he was in the moment of relaxation.

Mumbling a quick curse to himself, he sat up and concentrated his chakra into his ring, feeling the moving of his mind across time and space towards the dark, dank room which served as the Akatsuki's tailed-beast extraction area. Everyone else, save for Itachi, was already assembled. There was never any idle chatter, but Kisame was a bit surprised at the Uchiha being late.

In no more than half a minute, his figure buzzed into view, standing in its proper position: right ring finger. _Suzaku..._

Everyone was in position. Kisame wished dearly that the slight clenching in his heart was because of the lack of sleep, and not because there were four empty positions on the statues' two hands.

It was bad, he knew, to be 'missing' people like Deidara, Sasori, Kakuzu, and Hidan. He wished it was because now everyone needed to expend more chakra in order to extract a tail beast. He wished it could have been because now that meant more work for everyone else. But he knew it wasn't true. It wasn't for their companionship that he missed them, hell, some of them he had never been in an actual conversation with. It was just that feeling of...he didn't know what it was. It was bad for him, a member of the Akatsuki to feel though, this he knew to be true.

Kisame suppressed a mad bark of a laugh as the mist swallowed everyone in the room up and extraction of the eighth tailed beast began.

There was a storm brewing on the horizon.

**5**

"Hinata." Spoken-to girl wrinkled her brow before opening her eyes. Itachi stood a couple feet away from her bedside, one eyebrow raised in a pointed manner. She quickly rid herself of sleep-related thoughts, well-aware of the fact that this was the first time she had ever disobeyed Itachi. She draws a quick breathe, all-too-aware that death might literally be just around the corner for her. She steadies herself, she has faced death in the eye two times yesterday, she does not need a third time.

"Yes?"

Itachi stared at her. Hinata could feel the weight of time crash down on her. She wanted so desperately to look away, but she had learned that avoiding a gaze was a show of weakness. And Itachi didn't like weakness. So even though she hurt all over (and inside too), she maintained a steady stare right back at the master of the manor.

"Don't allow him to leave the premises." Again and again, he gave orders which she only had a dozen questions in response to. But Hinata, was still, through and through, a good girl. So she simply nodded her head in affirmative. After all, it was obvious who 'he' was. It was now that she noticed somewhere in the course of events she was still lying upon her bed, simply turning her body so she could see Itachi.

The person in front of her seemed farther from her than ever before. Certainly, there wasn't anyone she could compare to, but it just innately felt...far-off. Like he was some all-powerful being in which people weren't even allowed to touch. Thinking back, maybe he was some deity, a god of sorts. Never had he laughed, or frowned, or given anything away to show he was human. Never had he spoken anything unnecessary: compliments and insults were rolled together and tossed out like garbage to him. Why? Because...he was better than those things. Because he was better than those people, for whatever reason.

Itachi contemplated Hinata for a moment, recalling when he first brought her to this place. She had never shed a tear. In that area, she was just like him, uncaring of her birthplace, because there was nothing left for her there. But it was obvious she came into contact with Sasuke, out of pity for his younger brother. In those areas, she was a completely different entity from him. He was not held back by trivial matters like that. There was nothing to hold him back anyways, now that the Uchiha clan was gone.

So there was nothing holding him back from...breeding, so to speak, the Uchiha and Hyuuga bloodlines.

And Itachi quirks the right side of his mouth upward in a smirk at that revelation, reaching a hand out to touch the girl's hair, as if he were fifteen and she was ten all over again. Except they've aged five years, and the lines under his eyes are longer, and he can no longer see as well in the dark. But her eyes are just as white, and her hair is still the colour of the evening sky, as he takes a waist-long lock, satisfied that it has tripled in length since he first met her.

He releases it slowly, gently, regally; strand by strand. Leader-sama is calling him, and Itachi knows better than to make the man wait. However, he still needs to give Hinata one last order before he can turn away and send his mind through time and space.

"Do not throw yourself at him for a bird, understood?"

And Hinata nods, trying not to arrange her features in a sulking manner. Itachi turns, striding back to his room, satisfied for the time being.

She doesn't know why it's always been like this: him giving a command that should lead to many questions, and her simply obeying without asking any at all. She doesn't know why she's learned to accept it as part of her life now. She knows that strange as it may seem, she doesn't want the pattern to be stopped. After all, Itachi was better. He was beyond questions and answers; compliments and cut-downs.

He was God in her eyes.

And God deserved to be followed unquestionably.

**4**

Sasuke awoke with a start. The memories of two hours ago were flooding into his mind. Twice, he had been utterly defeated. Once, by Itachi, and the second time by a pathetic girl who wasn't able to save her life. He snorted in complete disgust at his failure. Itachi beating him was bad enough; he knew that the time he took recuperating from Tsukuyomi rivaled only the time Itachi must have spent recovering from the massive drain. At least that was a double-edged sword. At least Itachi was someone worth losing too. But that girl...

She was pathetic.

Every fiber of her being simply screamed: "pathetic."

She had beaten him.

Sasuke cursed loudly, flinging the sheet into the wall. He was so pathetic! To be humiliated by Itachi's underling!

Pathetic; pathetic; path--

His self-hating rant was paused by the sound of padded footsteps approaching his room. He calmly exhaled as the door was opened, to reveal the girl from earlier. His eyes narrowed as he wondered what she was here for. She never seemed to hold anything against anyone. His eyes fell on the bowl she carried; an 'oh' registering in his mind. He did feel a bit hungry, thinking about his stomach right now. Hinata set the bowl (which appeared to contain a porridge of some sort) next to his bedside in a diminutive fashion, not saying a word.

Sasuke, in response, simply picked up the bowl, sniffing it a little hesitatingly, before downing its semi-solid contents in one go.

It was bland to the point of he could be eating watered-down cardboard. However, it was food and he was averagely hungry. He nodded in acknowledgement of her prescence before setting the empty bowl down where she had placed it. Not a word was spoken.

However, the wheels in his mind were turning rapidly. He was in Itachi's manor. So what if his broth--target only resided within the actual walls once a year or a decade? Here was the place Itachi would be guaranteed to go. So it was almost a wildcard for him. Sasuke knew his logic, and it was only logical to come to the conclusion that he would not be allowed to leave the manor for whatever reasons of Itachi's twisted mind. But he was also intelligent, and calculating. It could, moreso than ever, be used in his favor. As long as he was in Itachi's prescence, the same thing could be said vice-versa, and his chances of killing the weasel were much higher.

The smile gracing Sasuke's dark features did not serve to light them up as smiles should, but rather, cloaked him in the air of a murderer. Needless to say, Hinata was scared. She wondered if he would try to kill her for knocking him out. Deciding not to take her chances, Hinata picked up the bowl and started heading out the door.

Maybe this time, there would be no cross-examination.

She was almost through the door when his voice called out:

"Wait."

This time, instead of freezing and giving him the opportunity to bombard her with questions, Hinata tightened her grip on the bowl and sprinted away.

**3**

Sasuke stared for a couple seconds before getting up and chasing after the girl. It was no question that he could catch up to her, surpass her even, despite his bed-ridden state. Grabbing onto her wrist in a vice grip, he pretended not to notice the tremor that shook her body with this barely-there contact.

"Why didn't you listen to me?" His voice was cold, as per usual, and he caught the flicker of her eyes for a second. He assumed it was the lack of empathy in his voice. Wrong assumption.

Hinata was honestly mad. How dare this complete stranger waltz into her life and treat her like a servant? She tried wrenching her hand from his grasp, but found it almost impossible. He would have raised an eyebrow at her attempts, had she not thrown the bowl at his face. He caught it easily with his free hand. Hinata pursed her lips in annoyance; Itachi had never had guests over before, with the exception of the shark-man, Kisame-san. And despite looking like a creature of the sea, he seemed infinitely more cultured than this...this utter tramp whose eyes held emotions more human than she'd ever felt.

Hate, a hate tempered by time and passion, burned in his black eyes.

Sasuke waited for an answer, but apparently, the girl was unwilling to talk. So he tried a different question:

"Why did you bring me the porridge?"

It was an expected question; and Hinata could have answered it with ease, but it would have been her following his orders, which was unacceptable. Everything about him made her want to throw up. He was Itachi...and yet not Itachi, all rolled up into one. He wasn't God, though, and all she needed to do was make sure he didn't escape the manor, which didn't require answering his questions.

In a swift movement, Hinata brought up a leg to kick at the his hand. Sasuke blocked it. Both their Doujutsu's bled in; Hinata aiming for Sasuke's tenketsu as he mimicked her movements, hand for hand. The girl smiled, this would have been perfectly fine if all the tenketsu were in the same location, but that wasn't so. The veins in her eyes bled deeper into her skull as her speed increased twice-fold and Sasuke matched up to her movements perfectly.

Any second now...

Hinata's eyes widened as she realized her own previous 'trick' had been used against her. The clone melted into snakes which melted into nothingness. The real boy appeared directly in front of her, forcibly pushing her down to the ground.

"Answer...the...fucking...question!" Sasuke ground out, pounding at the ground next to the girl. Hinata visibly flinched, but otherwise remained silent. Sasuke's arms were pinning here down, preventing any sort of movement left or right, and his face was inches away from hers, stopping any up-down motions as well. However, his glare was more effective than any physical sort of barrier.

She was trapped; that much was obvious, and there wasn't much she could do in retaliation. He was such a strange boy...it had almost been a week and still she hadn't even inquired his name...

"Who are you?" Hinata whispered, reaching out a hand to touch his coarsely-chopped locks. It was Sasuke's turn to recoil, but her grip is firm. And he cannot pull away.

There's silence in the air.

"Who are you?" She asks again, not even knowing what she expects in a reply. His breathe is hitched, and his heartbeat, quickened. Hinata yanks softly at his hair, and Sasuke is like a doll right now, his head almost collapsing atop of hers. If she had any experience, any outside contact, she would know the implicities of their situation. Their position. But she hasn't.

Sasuke opens his mouth to reply. It's dry; but that's never stopped the words from coming out until--

"Sasuke, Hinata."

The door to Hinata's room opened. Itachi stood impassively, a lifted eyebrows was the only sign of there being anything out of the ordinary. Kisame was in the background, eyes almost bugging out. Hinata stared at him, while Sasuke's eyes widened at the total implications of their situation.

Leaping away from her with more speed than necessary, Itachi took the moment to note this was the first time in years Sasuke's first reaction hadn't been trying to murder him on the spot.

"It's not what you think it is!" Sasuke hissed, the threat in his tone proving useless due to the colouring on his face.

Itachi lowered his eyebrow.

Amusing.

**2**

"Sasuke! Hey, bastard, where are you?" Suigetsu called out to the forest. Team Hebi had been wandering the seemingly endless forest for days and days. Karin still couldn't get a sighting on Sasuke, Juugo was growing anxious, and Suigetsu was getting pissed off. The sharp-toothed teen growled as the trees gave no reply. Reaching for his water supply, his hand paused as all three of them looked up simultaneously.

There wasn't time for words, only action as the literal ground split apart and the forest itself seemed to shy away from the being that was emerging from the earth.

"...What the hell is that?" Karin asked, staring at the green plant-like thing that was wearing...

"Hey that's the same cloak Kisame-sempai was wearing!" Suigetsu exclaimed.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Juugo calmly asked, taking in Karin and Suigetsu's reactions to mean that the strange...thing wasn't hostile. Two gleaming golden eyes peeked out from the the two large "leaves" on the cloak. Slowly, the leaves opened. They all tensed, Suigetsu reaching for his weapon. No one knew what to expect, but it certainly wasn't this. A plant-person.

"You don't need to know who I am..." a lilting, almost-pleasant voice called out from the foliage that surrounded the face.

"_**But you need to know you're dinner**_!" it was like a completely different person was speaking: harsher tones, raspier voice. A shiver went through all their bodies as with no warning, the trees suddenly bent down, as if to devour them. Team Hebi was better than that, obviously, but against an endless arsenal of foliage, it was almost impossible to defend against trees.

"Shit!" Suigetsu cursed as Karin tripped and was eaten-up by the trees.

Juugo was next, and with each one the forest devoured, a dark chuckle seemed to fill the place as a lighter note was played in the background. Suigetsu was too busy dodging vines and roots and freakin' leaves to be scared or annoyed at the fitting background music.

Of course, it didn't take very long for him to get swallowed up by the leaves as well.

Slowly, but surely, everything returned to normal. The weeds settled back in, the trees went back to their rooted position. The forest was left exactly as it had been a mere five minutes ago. Everything was the same, and no traces were left.

Save for the ominous chuckle and hiss of:

"_**Bon Appetit**_!"

**1**

Itachi stared impassively at his younger brother who probably would've lunged at him to kill (younger siblings were rather predictable, after all) if it weren't for the fact that he was discovered in only the most...compromising position with an absolute stranger. His younger brother was sadly, more immature than he gave the boy credit for. Kisame was rightfully gawking at the doorway, and Hinata was quietly rising to her feet, unable to understand why Sasuke had leapt off of her in such an unpredictable manner. Needless to say, today was beginning to seem out of the ordinary.

"Itachi," Hinata murmured, giving a small nod of her head. Itachi responded with a similar motion.

This little exchange seemed to shock Sasuke out of his non-murderous reverie as he cursed under his breathe, starting the first couple signs of the Chidori.

Of course, Itachi gave his little brother no chance. Quickly halting his right wrist before the third sign could be completed, the grip was tight enough to make normal bones break. But of course, Sasuke had learned better and this was merely yet another bunshin. Hinata stared impassively onward as the two brothers exchanged a quick battle of wills in a red, red world that no one else had the pleasure of seeing.

Kisame, of course, was not at all surprised when Sasuke slumped down, the boy defeated once more. He was, of course, surprised that Itachi would use the Mangekyou twice in the course of a week, this time being a small matter. But it was of no matter, seeing as how he trusted his partner's decision-making skills. Itachi turned heel, preparing to leave for the mission the Leader assigned them on.

He knew it would be suicide disobeying Itachi's implied instructions of not coming into contact with either of the "children," but somewhere in him, the kids had seriously grown. Dangerous feelings, he knew. Very bad, and worse yet was what Itachi would think when he found out. And of course he would find out, it was only a matter of time before his partner realized what dangerous waters the shark had swam into.

A storm was brewing, unquestionably.

But he couldn't find it in himself to ignore the girl who seemed to have a million questions on her face for yet another day, week, year.

"We won't be back for two weeks." He says gruffly before turning heel and leaving.

He is a murderer of hundreds. He hasn't spared a soul.

He shouldn't have emotions.

He shouldn't be so human.

He shouldn't feel anything at all when he catches, just barely, the expression of gratefulness that flashes across the little girl's face when she finally, finally, finally gets an answer to one of her million questions.

One down, nine-hundred thousand left to go.

All in a day's work, of course, he thought absent-mindedly, stumbling out the door.

**0**


	4. too bitter a hatred

_dans les morceaux_

(in the pieces) we find **too bitter a hatred**

a fanfiction written by dreamsofdestiny and moonmagicks in a collaborative work in which the characters used belong to masashi kishimoto, shonen jump, and respective copyright owners. this is a work of fandom and hence has no materialistic benefit towards it. moreso, there will be wild and unbelievable pairings and scenarios in which the collaborated authors wish to say will include sexual innuendo, incestuous themes, physical and mental torture, and of course crude/vulgar humor. please beware and note the rating is there for a reason.

notice: questions/comments/random junk? please do post on the author's forum! (forums, fanfiction discussion, dans les morceaux)

snark! kisaita and sasuhina ahead! xD

**6**

Kisame remembered the all his first times with Itachi. The first time he had heard of the boy was when he was age 8, and the Akatsuki recieved a notice about a boy genius with a thrist for power. Of course, the Leader's eyes had been almost piercing with interest, and Kisame knew all too well that another member was to be recruited soon. He would never have known that this member would be his future partner, nor would he have predicted that his previous partner would die.

Now that he came to think about the topic (he did have a lot of time and all, seeing as how this mission was meant to take two weeks...), Kisame realized that he could hardly remember exactly how the face of his first partner looked. He knew it was male. And he knew that the body height was definitely shorter than him, and probably lighter. But those were all descriptions that would have suited more than 99 percent of the population of ninjas. If you asked for more detail than gender and height, Kisame probably would not be able to dig up the information.

His facial features were lost on him.

The personality didn't even exist from what he could remember.

And he knew that he definitely would not be able to pick his previous partner's face out of a crowd of people.

Putting down the teacup and surpressing a sigh, the missing-sharknin thought reluctantly how this wouldn't be an issue at all were it not for the fact that he could remember all that and more with Itachi. Said boy-murderer was sitting a couple feet away, reclining on a bed while rereading the mission scroll. Even though the henge's eyes looked relaxed and his posture seemed to be at ease, Kisame knew his partner better than that.

The uneaten plate of dango gave away everything. Of course, there wasn't any real danger at the moment, but Kisame knew that the sounds and smells and motions coming in and out of the hotel had Itachi's ANBU senses on a complete high. He himself had learned long ago how to ease one's muscles to the point in which it was as if you had no bones at all.

However, it was a technique that Itachi deemed unworthy of learning.

Biting back yet another sigh, Kisame attempted to concentrate on his portion of the mission scroll. It was useless however when the tension creeped up to boiling point in the room, what with Itachi fixing his Sharingan on his partner.

Kisame was a well-trained ninja. Unquestionably so.

But even he could not restrain from fidgeting aimlessly when being held on by the eyes of a so-called God.

The third sigh was not given as Kisame threw his mind with full force at the scroll, refusing to look up or answer Itachi's silent but beckoning question. '_Why did you do what you did back at the hideout_?' ringing on repeat through his blue head as the kanji and hiragana swirled together to the point of illiteracy. Of course, stubborness was enough to pull his mind through the calling.

It was battle of wills with an obvious victor, but Kisame sure as hell was not going down easy.

Itachi's eyes narrowed minisculely. Not that the shark could have noticed, of course.

So he wanted to be stubborn.

**5**

"Sasuke..." Hinata murmured, lightly tracing the boy's pale brow as his eyes flickered open at the name recognition. Blood-red met pearl-white, and she would have flinched away if it weren't for the fact that he simply looked so much like Itachi right now. Of course, his personality sucked and the lines under his face were barely visible and not at all dignified.

In short, this boy was not God.

But, because he was not God, he was human.

He was like her.

**4**

Previously stated Avenger awoke to someone stroking his face. It wasn't exactly an unpleasant feeling, but it was definitely more alien than anything he was accustomed to feeling. Blearily blinking open his eyes and adjusting his focus, he realized (with little to no surprise) that the culprit was indeed Itachi's little pet servant, Hinata. The sad thing was, this was the third time he had blacked out, and the third time he had awoken one way or another because of her intervention. His mind reeled with the repeated phrase of 'pathetic, pathetic, pathetic,' but of course, that was just his daily living hell.

What was seriously being an area of concern was that, even though he should have been thinking of a way to kill her, to kill Itachi, at very least to getting the fucking hell out of this pathetic hideout, all he could think about was how...strange she was. Three times he had tried to kill her, each time almost succeeding. Three times she had seen him fall and three times she had somewhat helped him get back on his feet.

This girl...was different, that much was obvious. To be in Itachi's prescence, alive, for a long period of time (she had been gone from Konoha for what, five years?) was something to be commended in itself. It was only necessary for any companion of his elder brother to be quiet and knowing of the gold in silence.

If she were anyone else, he probably wouldn't have just stared at her touching his face. He probably would have done something violent.

But all he did was whisper quietly:

"Why...?"

Why did she do all this? Why did Itachi (nii-san, nii-san, nii-san his mind wants to add but it will not, cannot) take her in? Why is she still alive? Why is he still alive? Why is Itachi plotting all this out?

Her face contorts for a fraction of a second, obviously confused as to the reason behind his half-question. But then, it snaps back to its placid demeanor, and she slowly removes her hand from his face, as if there was nothing wrong with having it on his face in the first place. And other than everything else in his life being so damn fucked up, there's nothing wrong (crazy, you mean to say, crazy) with the situation at all. And that would be the end of it all.

Except that Hinata opens her mouth to speak.

"You're like me." She says, putting both hands to his face and leaning in to observe the widening pupils, the beating heart, and the slowly-heating face. He is like her; he is human.

Sasuke, of course, has had too little experience in such matters to have any control over them, and all he can think of to do is shut everything down. The past week has been too much him anyways, and he has no idea in hell as to why she's holding his face in such an...intimate manner as that.

Hinata wonders how hard it would be to stop that beating heart. Itachi has done that to her many times more and surely it wouldn't hurt the boy. She knows which tenketsu points to press, and how long he'd be out accordingly. But it is not necessary, and her chance (excuses, excuses...) slips away when the beat of his heart slows down to a hibernating pace. His eyes don't seem to focus, and she is left to wonder how ungodlike this person (this person who has God's eyes) really is.

She wonders if she should be disappointed that she can't knock him out and test out how nicely she's been working on her byakugan. Or whether she should be relieved that he didn't attempt to kill for a fourth time in one short week. But it doesn't matter what she feels, because she shouldn't be feeling in the first place, and she knows that even though Itachi will not look at her in a disapproving fashion, will not hiss at her incompetence, will not lock her away in her room as punishment, the fact that he disapproves, the fact that God disapproves is punishment in itself. And she gently places the boy's head back down on ground.

His breathing is even, and all he's ailing from is exhaustion. She clutches at the ends of her kimono, getting ready to depart, and just as she turns around and takes the first step away from the first human she's been in contact with for so long, she feels a tugging at the end.

It's the little brother, and his eyes are saying words. She can actually read what they're saying, what they're feeling, and she can almost hear the begging in them "_please don't leave me alone_," and wonders if this is how Itachi feels around her. Suffocated. Disgusted. And dragged down. But then, she realizes that maybe it's not that bad of a feeling, seeing as how she lowers herself to the ground once again, laying herself down so that their heads made a right angle.

Sasuke's eyes are closed once again, and she does not do anything about the hand that is tightly clenched around the hem of her dress.

It does not bother her, after all.

And she suddenly feels unexplainably exhausted, as if she's got those lines under and over her eyes as well, and she yawns before turning on the side that does not face the boy, and dozing off to sleep on the cold stone ground.

She has never been bothered by the strange coldness it always seems to hold, because it seems to also have a strange lull that makes people sleepy.

And they sleep.

**3**

The crows caw in the morning, once for the rising of the sun, and once again when the sun has reached the east tower. Hinata knows all of this all too well because it was all she did for the first part of her stay. Itachi had given her full rein of exploration, allowing her to explore the entire manor, seeing as how it certainly had nothing to hide. She remembered staring in utter horror at the skeletons that lay in the torture room, and sneezing while within one of the many dust-covered guest rooms.

It had all been so strange when she first came here, but with the rise and set of the sun, and the subsequent coming of winters and summers, she had grown rather accustomed to it, and wondered if Itachi would allow her to call this place "home". And then she took that thought back, it was obvious he wasn't one for words as sentimental as "home". It was simply a "place", a manor if one wished to be descriptive. Somewhere with a roof, somewhere to sleep, and somewhere to eat nongourmet meals.

And by the second caw, Hinata has already gotten up, wrenched the hem of her kimono out of the boy's grasp, and changed into a new kimono. She has far too many, but never wonders as to why or how Itachi has managed to acquire so many.

After all, he has never told her necessary information before, why start with the unnecessary?

There is breakfast on the table in the west hall. This is the most beautiful portion of the manor, Hinata thinks, glancing at the tall, elegantly shaped ceiling, and the richly-colored bricks that adorn the walls, consequently protecting the inner room from all harms as well. And there is an equally grand cherrywood table. She has sometimes pretended that it was imported from a faraway and land, and with a bloody past as well. But what really sets this room apart from all others are the windows.

They are beautifully tall, and equally elegant works of art. Each one is perfectly symmetrical with the next, and it is because of them that the room has never had a need for lights. Both the moon and the sun are able to illuminate their way into the room, and the building has been desgined so the two of them are constantly circling about the windows in a beautifully circular motion. There are curtains, of course, made of silk, and they gracefully fall like water. However, they are to keep prying eyes away, and do nothing to block any sort of light.

Hinata loves this room the most.

And it is in this room that Sasuke manages to stumble upon her once again. She's sitting at one end of an enormously long table, and her new robes are flowing down from the sides of her chair. She seems to be eating rice with flavourings, but he's never been one for culinary knowledge, so it could be porridge for all he cared. She nods at the coming of his prescense, but does nothing more.

There is an identical bowl on the other side, filled with the same things, and Sasuke goes to sit there.

He looks rather blandly at food, and not-so-discreetly takes the multi-colored dango out of the bowl and on top of the table.

Hinata blinks in surprise at this. The two of them are so similar, and yet they do not have similar tastes? But she doesn't say anything, and simply continues to eat her meal. She has never wondered as to how the meals are made (although she's always suspected some invisible chef, seeing as how the crows couldn't possibly do this as well, right?), and has only learned that whomever puts the food on the table is either unwilling or unable to clear it away.

And that has become some sort of amusement for her, taking the dirty dishes and washing them eiher as quickly or as slowly as possible.

When Sasuke has finished picking at his meal (he's left more than half of it uneaten, for fear of food poisoning), he notices that although she has long since finished, the girl has not gotten up. Until now. Hinata calmly walks over, her own bowl and chopsticks in hand, and takes Sasuke's as well, heading towards the kitchen to wash them. As always, there is a lone bucket filled with clean water, and a clean towel for scrubbing.

Another mystery of the manor that she has never bothered questioning.

Sasuke follows her with his eyes. He hates her, he thinks. How dare she be a cohort of the man who murdered his entire family! How dare she smile so serenely, so many miles away from her home! How dare she seem so...content with her current lifestyle! It annoyed him to no end, and he had no idea as to why he was so annoyed. Other than the obvious fact of her being a companion (of sorts, at least) to his nii--target. To Itachi.

He hates Itachi. He hates Itachi wholeheartedly, and because of this, by order of association, he hates the girl as well.

He hates her kimonos, they remind him too much of Mother's.

He hates the way she looks at him, another disappointed glance because he is not Itachi.

And what he hates the most is the way she acts. So shy and quiet and unable to be killed.

**2**

Hinata has long since noticed the boy's stare. It would be a lie to say it was not unnerving. It was. It had been far too long since anyone had glanced at her for so long. Itachi's eyes only rested on her for a couple seconds at the absolute most. Kisame sometimes stared, but it wasn't at her, but rather through her. And the crows...they didn't look at her at all. Unless she was feeding them, and even then it was never with this sort of intensity.

CRASH.

She winced at her stupidity, at having managed to drop a bowl. It was completely shattered beyond repair.

Sasuke did not come to look at what she was doing, but rather chose to leave the west hall. She wrinkles her nose at his unpleasant nature before bending down to pick up the fallen pieces. A couple crows come to help her, and she has learned that they are incredibly smart birds. They pick up the pieces of the bowl with their beaks and discard them in the properly labelled area for garbage.

Walking away after her morning dishwashing duties are finished, she retires to her room. With all honesty, she is stumped as to what to do. There has never been such a human visitor in the manor before, and certainly no one has stayed with her for so long. Although it has only been two weeks since he's come (and one more week until Itachi and Kisame return), it feels like a lifetime. Without a doubt, he has, at very least, given her something more to do, whether it be tending to his wounds, giving him his meals, or simply cleaning his dishes.

But now that he doesn't need all that, what is she supposed to do?

He is still undoubtedly in the house, and it would not be wise to go frolicking in the outside. She was not certain as to why Itachi had told her to not allow him to leave the Manor's grounds, but she certainly wasn't one to disobey God. Which brought her back to her current dilemma: what to do?

After a couple moments of thought, she decided that her best bet would be to pretend he wasn't in the manor at all. In which, she proceeded towards the vast stretch of room that she referred to as the "library". It housed more books than she'd ever have a lifetime to read, and she had read all the titles in the first sixteen shelves so far. Finding where she had last left off, she grabbed her book titled "_Ancient Interclan Relations and Disputes_". It was boring, yes. But it was a way to pass the time, and she was certain that there would be a day in which she'd be able to put to use the fact that "in past times, most clan disputes were settled by a large-scale animal-eating competition that lasted for several days. The most frequently used animal was the yellow frog, for its unusual inability to be consumed cooked".

She was halfway through with this title when she noticed a hard stare on her being.

Looking up, she was not at all surprised to see the boy looking at her.

She shuddered, refusing to allow it to affect her any more than it should, choosing to flip the page of the book and submerse herself into the little-known tradition of marrying enemy clans' respective mascots together.

Sasuke didn't seem like he'd be leaving soon, and although she was very clearly bothered, there was no way she was going to get him to leave. She wondered if he'd follow after her if she decided to return to her room to read, but decided against it. This was moreso her manor than his--he had almost no right to be here! Well, other than the obvious fact of the master of the manor wanting him here for one purpose or another.

She sighed, in a personal defeat, closing the book and heading towards her room.

Sasuke did not follow, but kept his eyes trained on her, glare in place. It was really all her fault that he was here right now (although the fact that it was also partly of his own free will did not seem to occur to him right now) and without any sort of aid. He had no idea as to how Suigetsu, Juugo, and Karin were doing. He rolled his eyes, Karin had probably attempted to kill Suigetsu and Juugo probably saw blood and killed the two of them.

They were predictable like that.

And in the most perverse manner of all, he was reassured by that fact.

**1**

"I didn't think it was very fair that you always left her hanging," Kisame relented. Itachi's eyes narrowed. Was the shark not trusting his judgement? But then, one glance over didn't just confirm the fact, but thinking back, Itachi realized that perhaps, it had been a little cruel of him to never tell his blank slate anything. Although he could hardly feel guilty for it.

"Very well," he responded evenly, choosing ignore the roll of eyes Kisame gave as a reply.

Another week before they went back to the manor. Perhaps by then, the two of them would have somewhat bonded, making breeding much easier.

And then again, this was his foolish little brother and his blank canvas being discussed. It would probably be easier to force results, rather than patiently waiting. And although there was a lot at stake, Itachi understood the many capabilities a Byakugan-Sharingan child would have. As long as the child was not pale and weak, it would be a rather strong force, more than most would be able to reckon with.

And if he managed to produce such a creation...Itachi allowed himself a small quirk upward with his lips, then all the time spent into Hinata, and subsequently Sasuka, would well be worth it.

**0**

end of the fourth chapter


End file.
